Listen: Jon Jones’ Ridiculous Excuses To Cops In Recent Traffic Stop
Heading into his long-awaited comeback tilt against hated rival Daniel Cormier at April 23’s UFC 197, former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones sent a collective scare throughout the MMA world when it was unveiled that he was due in court for driving without a license or insurance during a traffic stop.
It might not sound like all that big of a deal, but it was of course magnified by the fact that ‘Bones’ was still on probation for an April 2015 hit-and-run incident that left a pregnant woman with a fractured arm. His rematch with Cormier is still on as of right now, but today (Friday, February 19, 2015) an audio recording from TMZ revealed that the troubled but dominant fighter caught quite the break when he was caught traveling a huge amount above the speed limit.
In the recording, the officer who stopped him can first be heard informing Jones he had been clocked going 75 miles per hour in a 35 mile-per-hour zone. Jones played it coy:
“Was I? Man, yeah, I didn’t realize I was.”
‘Bones’ then continued to plea his case by stating he didn’t have his license and was only headed to practice:
“I don’t; I don’t have my license. I was headed to Jackson’s MMA. I have a practice at 8:30.”
Then asked for his registration, Jones didn’t even know what that looks like, let alone have it:
“Um, is this it?”
Responding with a resounding, “No,” the officer got a bit testy at the whole situation, where he had been provided none of the routine paperwork required to legally drive a car in any state. He continued to question Jones about his insurance documentation:
“So you don’t have anything with you then – you don’t have a license with you, no registration, no insurance? So where’s the insurance man?”
The stop got strange and questionable on his part when Jones proclaimed he didn’t know it was illegal to drive without insurance:
“I don’t know. You don’t know? No, I don’t know. So why you driving with no insurance, dude? Is that illegal? You know it’s illegal man. No I don’t. Yes. Everybody has to have insurance. The car’s insured. But you gotta have a proof of insurance. Just because you’re telling me it’s legit doesn’t mean it’s legit. Yeah, I understand. I mean I gotta see some proof.”
Things sound pretty crazy at this point, but rest assured it gets even stranger when Jones attempts to explain why he’s driving without a license.
Hop to the following page to read his ridiculous reasoning…….
The former champ was scolded for not having a license but claimed he has one:
“And you don’t have your license with you either, so why you driving with no license? You know that you gotta have a license to drive, right? I’ve got a license. But you’ve gotta have it with you.”
Jones then admitted he lost his license and was now carrying a passport in its place. When his name was run, it came back that he didn’t have a license, to which he acted surprised:
“I lost my license awhile ago, so I usually carry my passport. Be straight up, okay. You don’t have a license to be driving? No, I do. Because you’re not coming back in the system as having a license. I don’t know why that would be the case. I’m from New York if that….
Now that it was clear that Jones was either completely oblivious to all basic traffic laws or just pretending to be, he tried to describe why he didn’t have his passport, even though it was a sufficient piece of identification to allow him to drive:
‘So you don’t have a New Mexico license? No, sir. But you have one at New York. You just don’t have it with you? No. No, I don’t. So I’m from New York and I’ve been living here, I moved here officially about a year-and-a-half ago, and I’ve been driving around here carrying my passport, and I left it in my passport in my book bag at home, so that’s the reason I’m not carrying it.”
Finally, the officer laid out the simple rules for him, but then gave him a huge break, which Jones thanked him for. The dominant former champ was issued a stern ‘warning’ to stop driving recklessly, seemingly avoiding a more serious traffic charge:
“But you gotta have a driver’s license, not a passport, to drive. Okay, I didn’t realize that.” I mean going 75 is pretty much reckless driving, dude. Yeah, that’s what he was telling me. So, you’re getting a huge break dude. Yeah, I appreciate it. You know what I’m saying? So, get a license to drive if you’re going to drive. And just drive normal, okay? Yeah, you got a cool car, but there’s no need to go drive crazy and kill somebody or kill yourself. It ain’t worth it, dude.”
If ‘Bones’ was driving like that while he’s still on probation not even a year for a serious traffic offense where he did injure someone, it would seem he has learned nothing from the entire experience regardless of being involved in a manhunt, endless negative publicity, the loss of sponsors, being stripped of the title and suspended from competition, and above all else, endangering the innocent public.
He caught a break here, but with this recent example most likely being far from the first time, how much more mischief can Jones realistically get himself into before he puts his career in jeopardy?
